Stephanus
was ordained bishop of Rome A. D. 253, in the place of Lucius, and suffered martyrdom four years afterwards. He is known to us solely by the dispute which he maintained with Cyprian upon baptizing heretics, which became so fierce, that Stephanus, not content with refusing audience to the deputies despatched by the African prelate, positively forbad the faithful to exercise towards them the common duties of hospitality.
Works
He appears to have published two epistles in connection with this controversy. 1. Ad Cyprianum 2. Ad Episcopos Orientales contra Helenum et Firmilianum.
Editions
Neither of these has been preserved, but a short fragment of the former is to be found in the letter of Cyprian Ad Pompeium (lxxiv.). and is printed in the Epistolae Pontificum Romanorum of Constant. (fol. Paris, 1721, p. 210).
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.